ING to sponsor Hungarian GP

22/01/2008

ING continues to reinforce both its commitment to Formula 1, and its position as one of the sport's leading sponsors, with the announcement of the title sponsorship of the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix. Held at the Hungaroring on August 1-3rd, the race will be known as the ING Hungarian Grand Prix.

ING has also confirmed that it will continue the title sponsorship of the ING Belgian Grand Prix during 2008 and 2009, in addition to its two-year sponsorship of the ING Australian Grand Prix.

Independent research amongst 16,000 people in 32 countries has shown that ING's entry into Formula 1 in 2007 strongly increased ING's global brand awareness and created a clear and positive perception of the firm, leading to a significantly increased willingness amongst potential customers to do business with ING.

ING's 2007 season on-track branding campaign played a key role in increasing global visibility, as well as supporting the title sponsorship of the ING Renault F1 Team. Independent research by IFM showed that ING was the most visible on-track F1 sponsor (in seconds the logo was on-screen during the official race TV coverage) with 11,010 seconds on screen across the 17 GPs (2nd Bridgestone 9,375 seconds, 3rd Allianz 5,851 seconds, 4th Vodafone 5,618 seconds).

During 2008, ING will have on-track branding presence at 13 of the 18 Grand Prix races.

Isabelle M.Conner, Head of Marketing, ING Group, said: "Central and Eastern Europe is a vital market for ING, and one that is passionate about F1. Hungary is the only GP in Central and Eastern Europe and it's vital that we successfully use the GP to continue to build ING's brand in the region. It was a clear decision to take the title sponsorship for the Hungarian GP."

The on-track branding package will provide extensive trackside branding, together with branding of the track entrance and all ticketing and products produced by the circuit for the Grand Prix. The value of the package is not disclosed.